Central New York sales tax collections outpace New York state average for 2012

Central New York's sales tax collections posted the biggest percentage increase in the state last year, according to the state Comptroller's Office.

The rise in local sales taxes collected in 2012 over 2011 was 4.3 percent in Central New York and in the North Country. The next-highest increase was 3.9 percent in the Finger Lakes.

The statewide average was 3.3 percent; all 10 regions of the state posted increases for the year. The numbers include local sales taxes collected by counties and New York City.

The statewide increase of 3.3 percent, however, was less than the previous two years and less than the 4.4 percent average over the past 15 years, the comptroller's report said.

“The trends are pointing in the wrong direction,” said Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a prepared statement. “Communities across this state continue to feel the aftershocks of the Great Recession. The sluggish growth in sales tax revenues is now adding additional pressure to already strained local budgets.”

Municipalities have come to rely more heavily on their local sales taxes, DiNapoli said, and that makes local governments more vulnerable during recessions when consumer spending drops.